The field of the invention relates generally to, aircraft health management, and more specifically, to a fleet performance optimization tool that illustrates the overall effect on an aircraft fleet's health when one or more component replacements are simulated.
Expensive mechanical assets, such as commercial or military aircraft, utilize scheduled maintenance to maintain an acceptable level of reliability and performance. Scheduling and planning of maintenance activities has traditionally been based on analysis of the original vehicle design, lessons learned during subsequent operation of the vehicle, and lessons learned during the maintenance activities.
At least some components of these expensive mechanical assets are replaced at specified intervals, the intervals being defined based on data, such as reliability data, with the intent being to replace the specific component before it is due to fail. Replacing a working component on a complex machine, as a precautionary measure, is a preventive maintenance practice that is either mandated, suggested by the manufacturer, or deemed to be a good business decision. Reliability data, such as the rate of component failure or removal (i.e. mean time between unscheduled removal—MTBUR) is used to substantiate these activities.
The main disadvantage to existing solutions is that they are ad-hoc in nature, use inadequate, and somewhat random, metrics such as MTBUR, and do not quantify the total system health of a vehicle. As such, no scheduled maintenance practice has been established that eliminates all the possible scenarios that relate to reliability and performance. Advanced reliability analysis techniques are needed to better optimize preventive maintenance intervals.